The name Songkhla is the Thaivariant of "Singgora" ; its original name means 'the city of lions' in Malay. This refers to a lion-shaped mountain near the city of Songkhla. Archaeological excavations on the isthmus between Lake Songkhla and the sea reveal that in the 10th through the 14th century this was a major urbanized area, and a center of international maritime trade, in particular with Quanzhou in China. The long Sanskrit name of the state that existed there has been lost; its short Sanskrit name was Singhapura , a city state. The short vernacular name was Satingpra, coming from the Mon-Khmersting/steng/stang and the Sanskrit pura. The ruins of the ancient port city of Satingpra are just few kilometres north of Songkhla. It was one of the most important trading centres of the Tambralinga Kingdom. Archaeological digs and investigations conducted toward the end of the 20th century testify the existence of a fortified citadel protected by a moat and a quadrangular surrounding wall made of brick. A sophisticated system of canals connected the sea to the Songkhla Lake permitting the circulations of ships. The excavations brought to light artifacts of great historical and artistic value. On 8 December 1941 local time, the Imperial Japanese army landed in Songkhla invading Thailand. Because of the International Date Line, this actually occurred hours before the 7 Decemberattack on Pearl Harbor, making it the first major action of the Pacific War. The Japanese forces then moved south towards Perlis and Penang as part of the Malayan campaign which culminated in the capture of Singapore. Since 2003, Songhkla has been affected by separatist insurgencies in neighboring Narathiwat, Pattani, and Yala. The municipality's mayor, Peera Tantiserane, was murdered there in 2012.
Climate
Songkhla has a tropical monsoon climate. Temperatures are very warm to hot throughout the year with only minor variation. There is a short dry season in February and March; the rest of the year is wet, with especially heavy rainfall from October to December.
Population
The majority of the population is Buddhist with a large proportion of Muslims, especially in the rural areas fringing the Malaysian border. These Muslims speak Yawi language, a Malay-related language which has some Thai influence especially loan words borrowed from the Thai language. Songkhla's district has five tambon administrative organizations. Songkhla town takes up the whole of Bo Yang division.
